Your diagnosis is very interesting, Pandit…! The role of 10 is a role far from the definitions and characteristics that we used to assign to a playmaker 5 years ago. I share your appreciation that the 10 is a mere executor of the attack originated in the 9, towards the crashball. However, the ´X Factor´ is part of what differentiates a driver with ´compound or complex´ executions and abilities, from another that operates as a continuation of the activities of the 9. Personally, I think that the ´different playmaker´ ´ must present each semi-attack as something unpredictable and difficult to defend in their transition zones. Quade Cooper is my favourite, followed by Mo’Unga. Greetings

How are you Sam…! Good comparative analysis. I really appreciate the work of Jack Gordon (especially his long pass) but there is no one like Tate to attack the base of formations and from the unstructured game (his long pass is too weak for now). I take Nick White’s tenure at AUS for granted. But, unfortunately they are all quite far from the current world standard for the position (Before Aaron Smith, today Dupont or J. Gibson-Park). I think that the ideal is to respect the size of the opponents and insert the 9 that respond to the formulated game plan. That, theoretically, would give everyone the chance to work.

Excellent analysis Sam…! Wallabies during 2022 showed their difficulties not only to generate opportunities but also to take advantage of them. Basically, the risks in the management of Australia are concentrated in the breakdown dispute, where it shows the highest number of penalties. In the Autumn Series, he suffered 28 breakdown penalties in 5 matches and the lowest hold rate in rucks of SH teams. In RugbyChampionship 2022 he scored 44 penalty rucks in 6 matches. Whichever way Jones chooses to develop the game plans, he must have reassurance around the successful execution of the breakdown.

Great narrative, Harry…! With almost 90% of the Los Pumas squad working away from home, a foreign traveler has been appointed as head coach, to arrive at RWC2023. The power of the metaphor, or better, of the allegory could not be more clarifying. Despite being a selected TIER1 team, we continue to trust foreign coaches: an exile for exiles, Cheika seems like the most high-voltage bet for Argentine rugby.

Excellent note Christy…! I love everything about Eddie Jones speeches, as he’s kind of a tease provocations. I had the opportunity to see him in Argentina, in some conferences, and he never stopped provoking his audience. It is not new that the luck of the teams is played precisely in the definition zone. The novelty is that it is probably played too far from the 5 M line close to the ingoal, without clarity in the definition and with a too poor conversion rate. In SixNations 2023 the average number of 5M zone phases required to convert a try was 3.7. So the question is the quality conditions in possession with which we arrive at that zone of definition. Southern hemisphere rugby isn’t too far from that state of affairs, and neither is Australia’s. The possessions originated in won turnovers are an excellent work tool, because they generally find in the change of status an area where they generate confusion and loss of territory. Super fast and orderly transition, in addition to good communication, are essential materials to guarantee the use of this tool.

Thank you for presenting your initiatives, mate…! I think we are all aware of how limited the competitions are in the southern hemisphere. Even in the NH we have the trans-European competitions that the RSA teams have joined. In other words, there is still more activity than in Oceania. Something similar happens with the ‘Duplicate’ of SuperRugby in SuperRugbyAmericas, where professional franchises use players from clubs for a few months and then return them to their home unions. I’m not convinced by that: it’s like having a part-time job and then you have to look for a livelihood in other companies.
Greetings…!

My preferences for Mo’Unga aside, I love Zarn Sullivan’s game…! His activity as 15, in Blues, is clearly important. I like his aptitude for meter gain after receiving in the backfield. The rest is done by his speed and his ability to not be outmatched in duels. Mo’Unga did not have a great match against Chief.

The clarity and honesty of Du Plessis is up to a certain point ‘brutal’. I would love to hear more about your ‘niche proposition’ in scrum conditioning.

Thanks Peter, I enjoyed your article…! It mobilized me to a zone of questions that perhaps I had not asked myself before. The most important of them would be the following: Where does the X factor end in a player, and where does the analytical player who waits ´crouching´ to act and inflict damage to the opponent…? I think Mo’Unga is a deeply instinctive player and represents the gifted ‘X Factor’ player. Much more than Barrett or McKenzie (that they would represent the ‘crouching’ hunter). So far, all my preferences are Mo’Unga. I just hope he recovers the power he left at the end of SuperRugby 2022.

Hello Harry, beautiful text…! You have mobilized my chest of memories. I think, like the ancient Romans, that history is ‘Mater et Magistra’. I am 57 years old and I have seen changes and evolutions in the game of the best locks in my country. The positions remain, but the skills change for the best development of the job. Who would say that an Etzebet would seek to ‘steal’ a ball right under the nose of his hypothetical receiver in a restart start from midfield…? A few years ago, this situation was not only unthinkable but also prohibited. Rugby has these wonderful things, where everything stays in motion and the originality is, in most cases, a new combination of known skills.

Hi Brett, good overview on SRP…! I enjoyed reading it and I am convinced that the NZR teams have the ability to do a lot of little things well, for one thing, and the Australian teams are not putting up with the work rate that the Kiwis put them through. Already in the 2022 edition of SuperRugby we saw differences in physical conditioning, in handling the breakdown and its disciplinary aspect and in the volume of play in general. All aspects in which the Kiwis outperformed the Aussies. In 2023 it seems that the situation persists and the match between the Rebels and Crusaders is a good example of that founding imbalance. 10% fewer rucks is a clear symptom of the lower volume of play developed. Likewise, I play my chips on account of Brumbies, Force and, why not, Rebels.

I like your style, Geoff…! All this controversy has made me think about the problems we have in Argentina between the SuperRugby Americas competition and the regional or union championships, where both sides accuse each other of conspiring. SuperRugby Americas is professional but is a competition for a few months after which the players return to their home clubs, if they are not signed by a European powerhouse. The clubs must face the first part of their competitions without these players, losing quality and depth in their squads. The code war here is between professionals or semi-professionals and amateur or club rugby. As you will see, broad beans are cooked in all corners of the world.

Quade is still my favourite…! I really enjoyed his return to the Wallabies during the Rennie era. Precision in attack and defensive collaboration were his best contributions in 2022. Excellent review Tony.

Hello James…! Excellent note, mainly the initiative to mobilize the game more to the islands. SuperRugby’s potential is also based on talent originating from the Pacific islands.

Excellent review Peter..! I really enjoyed your retrospective analysis.

Good point, mate…! Undoubtedly we are moving towards more complete and 100% reactive players.

Any team capable of building options permanently becomes a great candidate in contemporary rugby. Man options, positions, game plans and game plan executions. IRE is a good example of this: options based on mobility and game continuity.

Hello Brett, how are you…! Excellent read, very nutritious. I had a chance to follow BRU at SRP this year, including the last game against RED. Certainly, I am one of those who believes that the “extended or amplified positions” extract the maximum benefit from the players who operate it and specialize them in indefinite or poorly defined areas, which could make them an explosive mix when structuring or destructuring the attack. As an immediate example, I think of the usual positions of Santiago Carreras (10 or 15) and Juan Cruz Mallía (15, 10 or 13) both in their clubs and in Los Pumas. He left a greeting for everyone.

Hello Christy…! Brad Thorn’s detractors should note and appreciate that with a player sent off the team is necessarily a step behind in all game situations, particularly in the breakdown. There RED conceded 8 penalties to BRU’s 5 despite a more effective execution. Penalties are a direct consequence of Blyth’s sending off, but in competitive rugby scoring more than 10 penalties is something of a final sentence, especially for SuperRugby teams where the volume of play is perhaps higher than in other tournaments. In general, the indiscipline situation of the RED is comparable to that of AUS. Will it be a common map for Australian SuperRugby…?

Hello Sam, how are you…! Awesome read. Personally, I still think that AUS’s difficulties are basically due to mismatches in the execution of the game. At least that was what I was able to see during TRCh2022 and AutumnSeries. It’s not a minor detail when it comes to driving and deepening the game. These mismatches are visible as in-game penalties, primarily in breakdown management. During their visit to NH AUS they conceded 67 penalties of which 9% were at the lineout, 15% at the scrum and 42% at the breakdown. These ratios place it as a potential penalty factory. In the breakdown it is about improving the timing of the execution. But there is a situation that you mention in your work and it is the shortage of ball carriers capable of breaking the advantage line and generating breaks in AUS. Only 8% of AUS possession have managed to break open during Autumn Nations. The lack of effectiveness in 22 M Opp is another issue to work on for AUS. After Los Pumas, I consider myself a fan of Australia. But both have things to improve.

Thanks for your gloss, Big A. I’m not writing in my native language. You may experience something similar when writing in Spanish. Greetings…!

Hello Christy, excellent panorama…! I think there is still time to experimentally evaluate some players. Recent statements by the ‘challenger’ Eddie Jones suggest that the human material will set the cards regarding which game plans to execute and which not. Or, on the contrary, that the game plan identified as innovative will filter the squad by itself. Hard to tell with Jones. As a former skills coach at my beloved club in Santa Fe (ARG) I feel inclined to think that I should facilitate a ‘mix’ of predisposing conditions, where game plan and execution skills would mutually enrich each other. In such a case, the differences between the visits to 22 M Opp and those received in the 22 M own would give the true measure of efficiency.

Hello Harry, your work is very stimulating…! IRE plays in a wildly different way than AUS does, with or without Sexton. But she achieves better yields with it. For a moment I would like to sit in the Australian fan’s chair and discuss the best game plan for #RWC2023. And as a fan of today’s great rugby drivers, I think there isn’t much room in AUS for anyone other than Quade Cooper. He can relaunch a semi attack from 0 to 100 km/h in mere seconds and identify the weaker side to hit more effectively. He is a true animal, instinctive and at times relentless. The question with every playmaker on the planet, excepting perhaps Farrell and Mo’Unga, is defensive performance. Can it be resolved beyond the defensive positional exchange between 15 (instead of 10) and 10 (instead of 15, in a 13-2 scheme…? The only possible answer must be ´to maintain the status quo of defensive efficiency´.
A separate paragraph for Edmed, who surprised me by his level of SuperRugbyPacific in 2022. he I expected him to take the place of the faltering Lolesio, but it did not work out with Dave Rennie. Without a doubt, he would trust Taned Edmed as Cooper’s replacement. Eddie Jones will make it possible…?

Excellent article, Christy…! I think Jones is reasonably smart. How else to label him…? With a few months of preparation ahead, the indicated thing is still to relieve the physical condition and the technical preparation of your troop, including the skills, to execute the game more accessible to the strengths and opportunities. Going the other way, that is, developing players to apply them to the desired game model, will take at least 5 years. We don’t have that time frame.

Hi Harry, great text. Highly provocative. And I rise to the challenge. I think IRE and any team that successfully handles balls in ultra-fast mode can fulfill their ambitions. All teams in 6N except ITA have shown improvements in ruck clearance speed. Common sense and accumulated metrics say that the faster you push your game, the more prone you are to making handling errors. If you analyze the 19 games accumulated from 2020 to the present, you will see that the best average in cleaning the ruck (grouping and synthesizing the 3 speed categorizations) is that of IRE, and its average handling errors is 13 per game, one of the higher along with WAL. It is not bad at all when the speed increases and the quality options become the decisive item that defines the continuity of possession. I like IRE as much as FRA and SCO: they have achieved a lot and shortened their way and 6N is the best place to show it.